Third Iqaluit employee named in Safety Act charges

WSCC charges public works supervisor in 2016 injured worker case

STEVE DUCHARME

Three city employees and the City of Iqaluit have now been charged with Safety Act violations in the wake of an accident in a city garage last April which left a city employee seriously injured. (FILE PHOTO)

Another City of Iqaluit employee has been named in a growing lawsuit over alleged safety violations that caused the near-fatal injury of a city worker last April.

Joseph Brown, the superintendent of public works with the City of Iqaluit, was charged with three offenses under the Safety Act and Occupation Health and Safety Regulations, says a media release issued by the Workers Safety and Compensation Commission, or WSCC, April 12.

Brown joins two other employees, supervisor Keith Baines and worker Ben Kovic Jr., along with the City of Iqaluit, who face charges under the Safety Act for breaches related to the injury of city worker James Dorrington.

Dorrington was run over by a garbage truck while on the job, April 18, 2016, sustaining critical injuries that required a medevac to Ottawa for surgery and treatment.

According to reports, the accident occurred while Dorrington was trying to remove debris from underneath the vehicle.

The WSCC executed a search warrant for documents at Iqaluit’s city hall last July, after proving to a Nunavut Justice of the Peace it had probable cause to believe the city violated statutes of the Safety Act.

Following that investigation, the WSCC formally charged the City of Iqaluit, Baines and Kovic Jr. for multiple violations under the Safety Act in January.

The WSCC now alleges that Brown “failed to take all reasonable precautions to ensure the health and safety of persons,” and also failed to ensure that city supervisors completed regular programs in accordance with health and safety regulations.

Baines, Kovic Jr. and the City of Iqaluit made their first appearance before a judge this past March, with Dorrington present in the courtroom.

Brown will now be added to the next scheduled court appearance on the matter May 1 at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit.